Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1887-06-18
LadIes 81 fhe g..

Ladies OF the Stage.
You have seen them often. the stiff
wooden duehesses and the oddly alfred
/ countesses, the whole Burkes peerage Of
the dumb nobility Of the court pageants Of
l the stage. You know how they come fling
IN, after the soldiery and In front Of the
/ kings pages, bestOWing themselves in an
aWkWardly expectant half-circle Just before
his majesty appears. You have noted them
evening after evening prOmenading on the
arms OF their escorts II and out OF the
| ballroom and to and fro IN the cOnserva-
/ tory behind 1t, never venturing too near the
fOOtlights in the great palBce revelry scene.
Who are they Of the il-ttting evening
! dresses, they Of the dingy blue muslin and
the erumpled paper roses, the walking
ladies, the women supers Of the fOOtight
world? Where do they come from, how
do they happen into the business, how
many are there Of them, who hires them.
who dresses them, and what are they paid?
The ballet girls tights and scanty drs-
peres, says an Eastern exchange, have in
spired a literature, but the woman super
numerarY is a creature unknown. If you
were to happen around at the stage door on
Monday morning early you might get a
peep at her without the disguise Of her
makeup or her title on. A factory hand Of
the better sOlt or a shop girl you might
suppose her in that maid-0f-all- work brown
gown, with the button holes Of her Jacket
yawning trifie and a tired-lOOking feather
in her hat.
There is a masq uerade scene cast in the
piece that evening, she viii tell you, and
she is on the ground looking for a chance
TO take a mummers part She has been a
ballet girl IN the "Black Crook" all winter,
but she caught an obstinate cold, and they
put her OF the stage because she cOughed.
She was a circus girl before she married
this you viii md out as she grows conf
dential-and, indeed, you may have seen
her on the road with Barnum when she
posed in the saWdust ring as the original
three-headed woman for the great moral
show. Her husband is doing tumbling
tricks in the clowns dress to-day; but she
finds it better to keep a home for the babies,
picking up a stray dollar here and there as
ballet girl this week, supe the next, for
this theateF or that
1t is three weeks since she saw the foot
lights, and she IS nervOusly anxious to be
on the boards again. The manager is busy
and slow to send for her, and she is afraid
Of missing her opportunity because she
doesn't own dress with a train. She has
two or three peasant gowns, she viii assure
you, tights in all sorts of cOlors, 8 servants
outfit with apron and mob cap, a short
dancing dress; but, alas and alasi she has
cut up her long evening gown. She Won
ders If the company viii pay for it if she
hires dress at a cOstumer's, and she says
she thinks they might, considering her eZ-
perience and the fact that she has more
than once taken a small speaking part.
The super's clothes have trick of not fit
ting her, but this is not always the supers
fault. The company supplies the costumes,
if it has any weak scruples about national
ity or era, and the gowns are dealt out in
average sizes perhaps fifteen minutes be-
fore the curtain is rung up. The thin girl
and the plump girl arrange matters as best
they can between them; but the haunting
e l.
meet or belts that yearn to lap over is
Oftener than not discernible In face and at
htude at the most critical moments of the
scene. The girl who costumes herself as
she does for ali the cheaper companies can
show a tenderer regard for the weaknesses
and the strong points Of her own figure, but
her wages as compared with the stars salary
make their gowns odd companions to cross
the stage side by side.
The super is wooden, and this Is because
the super is stags-sIuck. The chances are
nine out Of ten that If she has only to rush
on with a score more to see what all the
cOmmOtion is about when the villain rouses
the street to catch the hero in an awkward
scene-the chances are that in all the me-
lee she will feel as if the eyes of the audi
ence were fixed on her alone, and that the
notion will turn her into a jumping jack
that moves only with spasmOdic Jerks.
The very fact that she has nothing to say
ail4 44tL4C VI 4OLAAAL " w L4llEACb l441
ton more awkward, so one of the guild
told me the other evening, and keeps the
self-consciousness from wearing away.
The old stager5, as they call them behind
the scenes, rub OF their embarrassment In
time, and some OF them rub of their am
bitiOn with it.
1t sounds odd, perhaps, to allude to a
supe's ambitions, but few of the younger
ones are without soaring plans. They
meant TO begin Gs Juiets or LEANS, and
when fate IN the shape of an Obdurate
manager has refused them, they start at the
bottom of the ladder with a serene conf
dence that it Will prove easy to climb.
Rose Coghlan's example and Maggie
AIitcheIIs are talked over continually
among them, and one day they look for
ward to their turn. Now and then they
have a little backing or a little talent be-
hind them, and the turn may possibly
come